The Sunny Side of Life

On 4/18/09 I started Prevention Magazine’s Flat Belly Diet plan.  (on 5/8, I modified it to align with South Beach.  See that editing further below.)  Basically, it’s the very healthy Mediterrean Diet, with a side of MUFA magic tossed as the dressing.  :)  MUFA’s are mono-unsaturated fatty acids:  the GOOD fats/oils.  The ones that are great for your heart.  Well, it ends up that recent studies have proven that MUFA’s also attack the visceral fat around your belly.  Although you have to eat them carefully, if you eat a small portion of any one of the many MUFA’s at each meal, it WILL increase your belly fat loss.

MUFA’s are:

• Nuts and Seeds:
  • almonds / almond butter
  • brazil nuts
  • cashews
  • hazelnuts
  • macadamia nuts
  • pecans
  • peanuts
  • pine nuts
  • pumpkin seeds
  • sunflower seeds (eat ‘em without salt)
  • walnuts
• Oils
  • canola
  • flaxseed
  • olive
  • peanut
  • pesto sauce
  • safflower
  • soybean
  • sunflower
  • sesame
  • walnut
• Avocados
• Chocolate (yes, chocolate!!!  :)  )
  • but it has to be semi-sweet or dark chocolate.  None of that fattier milk chocolate. 

Anyhow, that’s the FBD in a nutshell (no pun intended….much.  LOL)  Keep it low fat and as salt free as possible.  Lots of fruits and veggies and small amounts of MUFA’s 3 meals a day.  They want you to eat every 4 hours, 400 calories each time, but that’s too much.  (until I get faithful to 1 hour of exercise a day.)  I try to stay at 1200 calories a day.  Anything less and the body goes into metabolic starvation and sabotages you.

Can’t tell you more; you’ll have to buy the book like I did. 

Edited to Add:

About 3 weeks into this, I decided to incorporate the Flat Belly Diet into the South Beach Diet.  That means restricted carbohydrates.  And virtually none of the ‘white carbs”  (’white’ starches like bread, crackers, rolls, cookies, etc….even white potatoes…)  Lots of protein, but very low fat/low calorie protein.  The overall plan is what is considered a “Mediterranean diet”….an emphasis on fresh vegetables and fruit, high in the MUFA’s and low on the bad fats….calorie conscious.  Things that are good for the heart, not just for reducing weight.  :)  AND/but, restricting as best I can ALL sugar and even sugar substitutes.  I find ( / agree with the research) that sugar subtitutes keep the sugar cravings alive.  If I have sugar subtitutes, it takes 3-4 days to re-lose the sugar cravings all over again.  So I rarely, rarely even use sugar subtitutes.